


A Lesson In Trust

by Live



Category: Naruto
Genre: Academy days, Fluff, Friendship or Pre-Romance You Can Decide, Friendship/Love, Kid Fic, M/M, School, Trust, Trust exercises, implied food issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 06:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13518525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Live/pseuds/Live
Summary: All Iruka wants is for his class to start trusting each other, too bad Shikamaru would rather watch the clouds...





	A Lesson In Trust

**Author's Note:**

> A sweet, short story! Just wanted to write a little ShikaNaru when they were kids, but as I said you're welcome to read it as just friendship, because there's nothing overtly romantic in their every day interactions XD Enjoy, however you wish to read this piece!! <3

A world weary sigh could be heard across the Academy grounds. The kind of sigh that has seen friends become enemies, witnessed villages torn to pieces; caught a glance of the world ending. Well… that, or a Nara being told to do something.

Shikamaru Nara was stretched out across the dusty floor, hands cushioning his head as he longing stared up at the sky. A clear blue acted as the perfect background for the soft looking white clouds, the kind of clouds that swayed and formed shapes, a good day for cloud watching. 

“Shikamaru!” It was a shame his teacher didn’t understand the nuances of cloud watching. “Get up off the ground!”

“Naruto’s just going to drop me,” he shrugged, and he was sure with that movement he had exhausted the last of his energy. “I just thought I’d make it easier for him.”

Just as Iruka-sensei was about to start his lecture (Shikamaru was sure it was either going to be the one he just gave Naruto about how important trusting your teammates were, or it was going be his ever-so-motivating pep talk about making effort in lessons) when the troublesome blond squawked. It was the kind of sound that was reminiscent of a seagull forgetting it could fly. It was a sound that never failed to amuse and irritate Shikamaru.

“I would not drop you!” were the words Naruto’s squawking formed as Shikamaru continued to envy the clouds. Iruka-sensei sighed and quickly got the other children back on task before he tried to sort out the problem that was Shikamaru and Naruto.

Not that Shikamaru thought this was a problem at all. In fact he was rather grateful to the blonde, he wouldn’t have had a reason to be lounging on the floor if it wasn’t for him.

When one too many hurtful gibes had been doled out through their taijutsu lesson Iruka-sensei had lectured them (the one about how Konoha ninja thrive off of teamwork) and set them off to do a simple trust exercise. Of course anything simple for Naruto was boring and needed spicing up (of course for Naruto the opposite was also true and complicated things needed simplifying: it was troublesome). So, when Sasuke was told to fall back and let Naruto catch him, Naruto didn’t as a ‘prank’.

Shikamaru can safely say it was amusing. The cloud of dust that rose as the Uchiha’s behind met the ground and the comical expression that fell across his face, was almost worth Sasuke’s fangirls screaming at Naruto. Those girls were the next to fall for Naruto’s trust ‘prank’. Truly it was hilarious, just Shikamaru didn’t feel like joining the others with their sore backs (though surely after the second time they should have started planning to fall safely instead of trusting the trickster- idiots).

“Stand up Shikamaru! I will definitely catch you!” Naruto was shoving an accusing finger into Shikamaru’s face. Ah, so much for his delightful view of the sky.

“I’m good down here,” Shikamaru batted that annoying hand away.

“No!” Naruto stomped his foot. A cloud of dust settled against Shikamaru’s face, making him cough. “Stand up! I’ll catch you, there’s no way I’ll let you fall! I’ll definitely catch you! Believe it!”

Sighing Shikamaru held his hand out to Naruto. Looking at it for a second, a grin bloomed across the blonde’s whiskered cheeks. Naruto helped Shikamaru to his feet before jumping around behind him.

“Come on! Let’s do this! Don’t worry, I’m definitely gonna catch you!” Shikamaru sighed, the repeated promises didn’t really reassure any of his doubts.

Shikamaru tucked his head down slightly and let his body loosen up. Most damage done from falling was from people trying to save themselves so as long as he just let himself fall and protected his head, seeing as it was the most vulnerable area, he should be fine. Then he could go back to cloud watching and Naruto could continue with his fun.

“Come on, Shikamaru!” Keeping his relaxed posture there really was no reason to delay the inevitable.

Shikamaru fell.

Naruto was about half a head shorter than Shikamaru. Shikamaru had overheard his parents talking about Naruto being a little small for their age, but Shikamaru hadn’t realised how small the blonde was until he was leaning against him. Naruto’s arms were swimming in the orange jacket the blonde loved. Maybe the blonde had brought the wrong sized jacket, either because he really liked it or because he wanted to be frugal. But that wouldn’t explain how small Naruto’s arms felt… he couldn’t remember ever seeing the blonde eating lunch. Maybe he could-

“I caught you!” The blonde happily yelled in his ear. Shikamaru grimaced.

“Didn’t think you would,” Shikamaru sighed, not making any effort to move out of the blonde’s grip, it was pretty comfy. Now if Naruto could take a few steps back so he could see the sky like this…

“What? But, I said I would!” Naruto squawked; offended. “I never go back on my word!”

“Troublesome.”

Naruto grumbled about annoying lazy idiots as Shikamaru continued to lean back; consumed by his thoughts. Naruto was always surprising, never did what Shikamaru expected and Shikamaru was a master planner. But, now he just wanted to plan a way out of this boring lesson (they had about a minute before Iruka-sensei would check on them seeing as he was occupied with Kiba and Sasuke).

“You want to skip the rest of class?” Shikamaru looked back at Naruto.

Naruto’s face split into a large grin. “Yeah! It was starting to get boring!”

And so they’d skip class. Hide somewhere Iruka-sensei wouldn’t instantly find them; it has to have a great view though. And Shikamaru would share some snacks he had purchased for Choji; that had absolutely nothing to do with Naruto’s small stature and everything to do with keeping the blonde quiet for a second. Not that food ever stopped the blonde from talking… Not that Shikamaru was ever bothered by the menial chatter.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks Tennants_midnight_wolf for the beta!!!


End file.
